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- 🔵 Germany Swings Right
🔵 Germany Swings Right
Citizen Frank
February 24, 2025
Good evening. It’s Sunday, February 23.
Germany’s federal election on February 23, 2025 delivered a decisive victory for the conservative CDU/CSU bloc led by Friedrich Merz, which emerged as the largest party with about 28.5% of the vote​.
In a historic outcome, the right-wing Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) surged into second place with roughly 20–21% support​ – the first time a right-wing party has placed second in postwar Germany​.
Incumbent Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s center-left SPD suffered heavy losses, falling to around 16.4%, its worst-ever federal result​.
The result signifies a major shift in the German political landscape, with high voter turnout (nearly 84%, the highest since reunification) underscoring the election’s significance​.
MSNBC announced on February 23, 2025, that it is canceling Joy Reid’s 7 p.m. weeknight show, The ReidOut, as part of a major programming shake-up.
The decision comes amid declining post-election ratings and a leadership change at the network, with new MSNBC president Rebecca Kutler overhauling the lineup​.
Reid’s final episode is expected to air by the end of this week​, on Friday, Feb. 28​.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has offered to immediately resign his office if doing so would bring lasting peace to his country – or enable NATO membership.
“If it’s about peace in Ukraine, and you really want me to leave my position – I am ready to do that,” Zelenskyy told reporters at a press conference in Kyiv on Sunday. “Secondly, I can exchange it for NATO [membership]. If there is such an opportunity, I’ll do it immediately without a long conversation about it.”
Earlier this month, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ruled out the prospect of Kyiv joining the mutual-defense alliance, calling it an “unrealistic outcome of a negotiated settlement.”
Newly sworn-in FBI Director Kash Patel is expected to be tapped by President Donald Trump to serve as the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF).
Multiple outlets have confirmed that Patel is set to serve as the leader of two of the largest agencies within the Justice Department, replacing the ATF’s current acting director, Marvin Richardson.
The ATF has a budget of around $1.6 billion and employs over 5,200 individuals. The agency is primarily focused on enforcing federal firearm, explosive, and arson laws.
On Saturday, Musk’ DOGE sent an email to all U.S. federal employees demanding they justify their jobs by detailing last week’s work or risk termination​.
The directive, sent via the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), gave employees 48 hours (until 11:59 p.m. Monday) to respond with five bullet points of their accomplishments​.
37-year-old Algerian-born man on France’s terrorism watchlist launched a knife attack in the city of Mulhouse​, located in a region that borders Germany and Switzerland.
He stabbed several people near a busy market, killing a 69-year-old passerby who tried to intervene and wounding three others (including police officers) before being stopped and arrested at the scene​.
The suspect arrived in France illegaly in 2014, and was arrested and convicted of glorifying terrorism in the wake of the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel. Authorities have called the attack an “Islamist terrorist act.”
A further three people were in custody in connection with the case Sunday, the PNAT prosecutors unit said, without giving details.
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